WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

What difference can one hour a day make? That’s the question we posed to ourselves when we created OAKs, and it is the question that resides at the very center of our motivation. The sad truth is American children are currently at a greater risk of facing immediate and future health problems than in any other time in our history. We believe one major reason has been the loss of JOY for physical activity.

There is a great reliance on youth sports programs to counter the sedentary trend engulfing our children. While countless youth sports programs exist, most revolve around a single sport or the development of single sport skill sets. This focus, more often than not, leads to disappointment for kids. As competition increases, the opportunity to participate decreases. Children who have focused too much on one sport often abandon fitness altogether rather than face the certainty of being “cut” from the team or sitting the bench. The immediate result is an increasingly unhealthy youth population disenchanted with physical activity. The long term consequence is an ever increasing population of overweight and obese adults.

By spending 60-minutes daily learning to love activity, OAKs retain the pleasure of living fit and healthy their whole lives regardless of how long they compete

OAKs is not an anti-competition program. We believe the lessons learned from success and failure during competition are instrumental to healthy development. Yet, we believe that children between the ages of six and 10 are neither mentally nor physiologically mature enough to reap the benefits of pure competition and sports specific training. This is especially true in sports like youth soccer, Little League baseball, kids basketball leagues, etc., where early athletic immaturity can lead to overwhelming feelings of inadequacy.

OAKs gets your kids out of the house but we are not a “baby sitting” service. Each OAK is always involved. OAKs challenges children and teaches them to challenge themselves and those around them.

We believe that children’s sports or fitness programs should do more than teach children how to kick a ball or swim a lap or to simply compete. At OAKs, we create an environment where children can explore and improve their physical and social boundaries – learn what this great machine, our body, can do. This is the very foundation of fitness, athleticism, and overall health and it is why we know that one hour a day can make “A Lifetime’s Difference.”

(1) - Sources: Professional Athletes, Children 6-12, High School Students from 2000 U.S. Census; NCAA Athletes from 2001 NCAA Fact Sheet; High School Students and Athletes from National Federation of State High School Associations 2003-2004 Survey.